(Two) Days in the Village

[wakesupbears.livejournal.com]

[ Dark, bleak, and damp - it's night in the small, desolate mountain village on which this dream centers, and by its sodden state of disarray, some kind of vicious storm must have just passed through. Everything about this place is nightmarishly exaggerated, drawn from the memory of a creature with only passing knowledge of human dwellings -- and no fondness at all for the proprietors of such strange establishments.

Eerily abandoned, no light shines in any window-- Except for one, whole and filled with the warm orange glow of one last burning lamp. And it's into the shallow reflection of this warm light that a lone, pale figure steps. A large, lanky silver wolf or a tall, thin man with only the attributes of the same animal, however he is perceived, his intent is the same. He's rarely been more determined in his life (or maybe that's more terrified, though he'd never admit to that), and it shows.

This is a dream he's had often, since then. And though he knows that it spells certain doom, he stops to look through the lit window, all the same.

No one's here.

Another empty room, filled with queerly-shaped furniture (another word he doesn't know). The light goes out immediately on the heels of this realization, and another one appears in a window on the other side of town. And when he slinks away from the safety of the first building's shadow, this is where he heads, to look again for something he's so stupidly managed to misplace. ]

[ooc: Anyone looking for an extremely surly rescuer is welcome to dream as another "animal" (or human) who's been captured and caged in the village. Otherwise, it's all good! Wacky timeline shenanigans with this month's theme included.]

Comments

[bot-builder.livejournal.com]

I-I wasn't crying! [His lower lip trembles in what is surely an intimidating fashion.] I was just trying to find my mother--b-because she gets worried when she doesn't know where I am, that's all!

Where am I, anyway?

[wakesupbears.livejournal.com]

Then it must be someone else around here who reeks of fear. [ Not convinced in the least, he swaps out anger for his usual aloofness. ]

You're in the mountain village. I don't know what you humans call it. [ And his underlying tone suggests that he doesn't particularly care, either. ] But there isn't anyone else here.

[bot-builder.livejournal.com]

Y-yeah, must be. [He juts out his chin stubbornly.]

[...And then he crumbles again.] What do you mean? Where did they go?

Does that mean the village is haunted?

[wakesupbears.livejournal.com]

How should I know? [ And for the moment, he totally doesn't mean that in any cruelty; there aren't any scents to follow, after such heavy rain, and that's left him at something of a loss, really. Especially in his own efforts to search out some signs of life in this town. ]

If there were anything here besides you and me, I'd know it. [ Reassurance he offers grudgingly. Because he definitely doesn't care whether this human is scared or not. No way. ]

[bot-builder.livejournal.com]

[He doesn't look reassured in the slightest.] Then what's turning the lights on and off?

[wakesupbears.livejournal.com]

We see them turn off and on all the time, from the forest. You mean that's not how they're supposed to work? [ Not knowing thing one about electricity (or candles, for that matter), he has to wonder, now. ]

[bot-builder.livejournal.com]

[He shakes his head vehemently.] No, people turn them on and off. There have to be people. I think. But there's nobody here... [He looks like he's thinking about crying again.]

[wakesupbears.livejournal.com]

[ Well, you learn something new every day.

...There's no time to think this over, though, because-- Oh, crap. Is he really going to start bawling again? Really, at this point, trying to distract this kid is purely for Souichi's own personal well-being. (Or so he tells himself.)

He can't stand that sound. ]

...So there're people here. They must've just masked their scent, somehow. Your species doesn't just abandon their young, right?

[bot-builder.livejournal.com]

Mother would never abandon me! [But he doesn't sound very sure.] M-maybe somebody kidnapped her...

[He stomps his foot crossly.] This is why when I'm grown up I'm locking her in a tower, so nothing can happen to her!

[wakesupbears.livejournal.com]

[ ...Well, that's more than he wanted to know.

Humans are pretty messed up, all around, aren't they? ]

I don't have time for this. Where do you humans keep the animals you kidnap?